Disabled man who was denied conjugal rights by his wife awarded Ksh1.3 million by court

- The man’s wife denied him his conjugal rights because he has Down's Syndrome

- Trouble started when social workers banned the man’s wife from 'sleeping with' him

A High Court in Leeds has awarded a man suffering from Down's Syndrome Ksh1.3 million as compensation after he was allegedly denied his conjugal rights by his wife.

Trouble started when the 38-year-old disabled man and his wife went for a fertility treatment, during which a psychologist informed the wife that her husband lacked mental capacity to consent to ‘sleeping together’.

Consequently, a group of social workers banned the disabled man’s wife from sleeping with him, arguing that if she did so, the she would be violating the Sexual Offenses Act of 2003.

The Sexual Offenses Act of 2003 was enacted to protect the disabled and vulnerable people from abuse. The Act makes it illegal to engage in an intercourse with a person deemed to be suffering from mental disorder. The offense can attract up to 14 years behind bars.

However, in this case, the High Court ruled in the disabled man’s favor.

“This is a unique case,” Court of Protection judge Sir Mark Hedley said, just before he ordered the social workers who banned the man's wife from sleeping with him to compensate the husband.

The judge said in his ruling, delivered at the High Court in Leeds, that the couples’ sex life came to an end for almost two years on 27 March 2015.Photo: PA.

The compensation was made not because of the social workers' decision to suppress the couple's conjugal rights, but rather because after they did so, they did not immediately take the initiative to educate the disabled husband on how to exercise those rights.